IGN's Family Game Buyer's Guide

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Their standards may be lower, but kids still deserve quality software.

By Daemon Hatfield

Kids are a different breed of gamer. We veterans may be cynical and jaded about licensed products that appear to be cheap movie cash-ins or "shallow" fare that doesn't offer enough depth and challenge to satiate us. But the kids are often cool with a game simply because it is based on a cartoon, and many clichés and mechanics we may be tired of have yet to be experienced by the younger generation. Of course, even though their standards may be lower, that doesn't mean they don't deserve quality software. Below we've compiled a list of surefire winners for the youngster on your holiday shopping list. We tried to pick titles that will appeal not only to novice gamers, but that their parents can enjoy playing alongside them. The Wii library is flooded with piss poor products, so allow us to guide you towards a few diamonds in the rough.

Sure, Animal Crossing: City Folk is pretty much the same game we've already played. Twice. But chances are, your kids haven't played it before, and they're likely to be just as engrossed as we were with this interactive world back on the GameCube. And if you haven't spent any time in Animal Crossing, you'll definitely enjoy fishing, collecting shells, and watching fireworks with your little ones. This is a virtual world where life slows to a crawl and players are free to while away their days any way they please. Animal Crossing is all about making friends and building relationships with the town folk, so you needn't worry about any violent activity here. City Folk comes bundled with the WiiSpeak peripheral for online voice chat, a feature kids can use to stay in touch with friends and family that also own the game. Do they have a cousin in Des Moines they don't get to see very often? They can visit each other's Animal Crossing towns and catch up.

Not only is Boom Blox a great game for the youngins, it's one of the year's best Wii games, period. While way too many games for Nintendo's console are controlled with awkward, tacked on waggle motions, Boom Blox feels perfect on the Wii. Kids like to throw stuff and knock things over, and that's pretty much what this game is all about. Holding the remote in hand, players cock their arm back and pretend to throw at the television -- just be careful that they don't actually release. Up to four boomers can get in on the action for some really fun party games. (Actually, it makes for an awesome drinking game for when the kids are in bed.) Boom Blox also includes an editor to encourage their creative side. They can create their own levels, take 'em for a spin, and even send them to friends over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.